Perhaps Microsoft aren't quite as arrogant as I first suspected - just confused instead.
Despite telling the world that it has no back-up plan for HD DVD, it may indeed already have the pieces in place.
According to Microsoft’s program manager for Media Entertainment Convergence, Richard Doherty, who spoke recently at the annual Digital Hollywood conference in California, both disc formats will be obsolete in five to ten years' time.
The future is fast broadband and downloads. In fact, "At Microsoft, we'd rather HD wasn't on a disc," he said.
He's not the first person to suggest this by a long way, but it's interesting given the previous views expressed.
How will Microsoft achieve this? Doherty didn't give any specific details, but it's likely to be via their Xbox Marketplace, or some other service that they set up in the next few years.
In the meantime, though, Microsoft are happy to support HD DVD, principally because they believe it delivers interactive content in a way that Blu-ray hasn't.
"This will be the last optical generation, if it survives," he concluded.
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hd movies will still be on disc or a flash card or some thing cuz i am not going to buy a movie off the net to have it sit on a hard drive and be restricted by what ever they have set up just like the excpire times on hd movies on the xbox
The statement fails to take into consideration that people actually like collecting the likes of CDs, DVDs, etc. to build up a library that they can dip into whenever they want. Having to rely on an external service to deliver want you want to watch when you want to watch it just doesn't cut it for me at all - you can guarantee that that old sci-fi film that you want to watch just won't be there. If HD-DVD/BluRay are the last physical media for delivering films then when they die, I'll give up watching films altogether.
I agree with previous statements, but I also think that Microsoft is not entirely wrong. Fast downloads will become the way most people get most of their home entertainment.
Currently I subscribe to two hundred or more channels from a Satellite service, but I only watch stuff from about five of them--and these only occasionally. Like most discriminating people, I am waiting to be able to pick and choose from a large library of downloadable movies and other video programs for a reasonable monthly fee. I do this now with a music service (Rhapsody) and it's the future.
For example, I would be very happy to pay the BBC a small monthly fee for full (download) access to their library of programs.
Cheers, Don.
Seems Microsoft have thrown in the towel with regards to HD-DVD ever being accepted, but at the same time, don't want to see Blu-Ray win. This is total BS. disk formats will be around ALONG time to come. The network infrastructure is not suited for digital download content delivery.. Not in the US, Not in the UK, and very few places outside Japan and a few Scandanavian countries that have fibre networks.
There are far too many problems with Microsoft programs already.
For example antipiracy program altering key codes whilst using genuine microsoft programs in my case, obtained and installed by Microsoft.
Bill Gates sounds like the idiot who stated that we will be living in a paper less society by now.
People like me want the best picture and sound quality.
With increased subscription internet costs it would be best to buy the discs.
Infact, it would probably be cheaper to buy the discs rather than wasting the money on phone calls or paying a subscription to for example Microsoft's technical department and trying to obtain a competent technician.
It is a no brainer how so many Microsoft employees are probably richer than some drug dealers.